Pens and lens project

In celebration of Wordfest, Asheville Citizen-Times photographers and local poets worked together to present different views of Asheville through pictures and verse. The full-page presentations, called “Through a Photographer's Lens and a Poet's Pen,” began Sunday, May 2nd on Page A7 , with photographer Steve Dixon and poet Laura Hope-Gill, executive director of Wordfest, exploring the architecture of Asheville churches and the mysteries of spirituality. The project continues Wednesday with the kickoff of the four-day Wordfest at sites throughout the Asheville area. Coming up:

• Wednesday: Photographer John Coutlakis and poet Keith Flynn

• Thursday: Photographer John Fletcher and poet Allan Wolf

• Friday: Photographer Bill Sanders and poet Glenis Redmond

• Saturday: Photographer Erin Brethauer and poet Katherine Soniat

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ASHEVILLE — Between the rhyme and rhythm, the quatrains and the verses, poetry possesses the power to create a much larger structure.

It's “an exercise for community building,” said Laura Hope-Gill, Asheville poet and executive director of Asheville Wordfest, a four-day festival kicking off Wednesday.

Now in its third year, about 1,200 people are expected to attend the event's workshops and performances, featuring award-winning poets hailing from Asheville and some from as far away as Chile. (Find the schedule on Page B3 .)

“When I first started, I expected 50 people to come, and we had more than 1,200,” Hope-Gill said. Part of this wide appeal may be because Wordfest's focus goes beyond the poetry on the page.

“I hope Wordfest taps into anyone who is interested in creative methods of problem-solving,” she said. “I get contacted by organizations and individuals who I wouldn't have reached out to because I didn't have them on my radar. It's a sign that, as a culture, we are becoming more interested in creativity.”

“Poetry has broader applications than something pretty you curl up with,” she noted.

One of these applications: Blurring the lines between communities, an element of poetry Wordfest strives to promote.

This year's theme explores the idea of borderlands, points of agreement shared by people who superficially appear different. Poetry will be presented as a form of citizen journalism, Hope-Gill said, with the poets telling stories of the many worlds and lives they inhabit.

Participating poets hailing from Asheville and across the state include Holly Iglesias, Kathryn Stripling Byer, John Hoppenthaler, Glenis Redmond and Keith Flynn.

Hope-Gill designed events to confront this “borderland” concept. One example is the pairing of Zurita and Hogan. “We might think what does a Chickasaw Indian have in common with a Chilean political prisoner, and we will look for it and we will find it,” she said.

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In this way, Hope-Gill thinks poetry forges bonds of community between discordant groups. “Poetry is the lowest common denominator between human beings,” she said. “It reveals the creative similarities that bind us all.”

The organizers of Wordfest also strive to open this community to as many groups as possible. “Accessibility is probably the main drawing point to Wordfest,” said Glenis Redmond, an Asheville poet and contributor to the festival.

The performances are streamed live on its website and archived for later viewing for students and those confined to the home. All but one workshop is free. And for the first time this year, the performances will include an American Sign Language translation.

“I see poetry as a vehicle for people to utilize,” Redmond said. “It enriches our lives and it's a way to express ourselves. (Through poetry), I have seen communities come together in ways that can't be measured in tests. I think poetry is a healer, and I think it's one that is accessible to everyone if they tap into it.”

And Asheville is a premier place to explore this vehicle, noted Redmond, who has lived in Asheville for more than a decade.

“It's the mountains,” she said of Asheville's source of creative energy. One Wordfest opportunity includes a hike on the Blue Ridge Parkway led by author Danny Bernstein.

“I am one of those artists that believe that the land speaks, that the land dictates a certain amount of poetry,” Redmond said. “It's inspiring, historically. What we stand on is really powerful.”

“The type of people who listen to that really generate an artistic perspective,” she said. “I think the community gravitates around having conversations, and that's all poetry is. I think Wordfest is just allowing greater conversations to happen.”